2009 Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow - Last JATO Shot by Fat Albert

US Navy Blue Angels
Fat Albert FINAL JATO SHOT
2009 Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow
Naval Air Station Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Saturday November 14, 2009
IN THIS VIDEO, over the last several decades the Blue Angels always had Fat Albert, their support C-130 Hercules attempt to steal the show away from the six demonstration pilots by performing maneuvers in an aircraft that seemed too large to perform such maneuvers. One of the performances was a Jet-Assisted Takeoff, which consisted of 'Bert having eight solid rocket bottles attached to the side of the aircraft for an amazing climb rate and to get the C-130 off the ground and flying as fast as possible.
JATO demonstrations had become rarer as the supply of JATO bottles has declined, mostly because of the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan, when it hit Pensacola directly back in September of 2004. Since then, some of the shows that the Blues flew got JATO demos, while others didn't. That became commonplace starting around the 2007 airshow season. 'Bert even did JATOs at night, and that was even more spectacular than those during the daytime.
This video highlights the last ever JATO shot by Fat Albert, shot at the Blue Angels' home base of NAS Pensacola. This is the LAST TIME you will ever see a JATO video from me, or from anyone, for that matter.
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